El Goonish Shive Theories
This page exists for fans to write down their theories about the comic. It has been divided into sections to reflect the probability of each theory being right given the amount of evidence for and against it. New theories can start in the "Too early to tell" section and move up or down as evidence accumulates. This page is generally for theories that are sincerely believed to have a chance of being eventually confirmed at the time they are first posted. For a wilder range of theories see this page instead. To get some ideas for a theory try browsing this page for the evidence that has built up so far toward the resolution of plot threads involving certain characters. Confirmed explicitly Adrian Raven is THE reason Pandora didn't reset *She doesn't want her memories of him to become 'textbook' knowledge of events. Tedd is a wizard *Wizards are special, known as people who can specifically learn other people's spells *Tedd is confirmed to be something special and much more dangerous than a normal magic user *Tedd is shown to have strange magical potential, while being confirmed to never being able to have his own spells (this says nothing about his having other people's spells.) *Still open: We now know Tedd is "more dangerous rarity" and will never has spells of his own, but we also already know mark spell don't count and Disco Wizard talked about "rare type of wizard that wouldn't be affected because they don't get spells in the first-" which sounds suspiciously like Tedd and might mean he still counts as wizard. * Heka and Voltaire calls Tedd Seer: they don't mention him being wizard but seems that the story goes to direction of Tedd technically being wizard but not able to learn other people's spells. * Pandora confirms Seers are wizards, and then explicitly calls Tedd a wizard Probably right in all points but not explicitly confirmed Noah is the Alternate of Archie *Noah is shown to have something reminiscent of antennae in his ponytail. **His ponytail is shown to have two antenna like portions. **His ponytail seems to move similar to Grace's antennae at times. **His ponytail is also separate from a portion of 'regular' shorter hair. *If he is nonsexual like Archie, then his unusual relationship with Melissa would make sense, since he desires closeness with others. *Noah's absence of shape-changing abilities would be logical if he were a human-uryuom hybrid, which Archie is. *He was "The Child Left Behind", recognized Grace as Shade Tail. *He flew like Grace's Omega Squirrel/Tri-Squirrel form, which could be telekinesis or something Raven taught him. Probably partially right or some parts confirmed Lord Tedd isn't evil, but is being corrupted by an alternate universe version of Damien *In Tedd's dream, part of the text translates to "The master of fire shall inherit the earth. My very presence eats away at your flesh." This is while Tedd transforms into berserk Lord Tedd. *Damien has been referred to as a master of fire. *Lord Tedd has been seen looking calm and sane. *The goo may have been sent by Lord Tedd while being influenced by Damien. *Nioi said that someone was corrupting him. **Nioi could also have been referring to General Shade Tail. This seems more likely, as she initially came to the Main Universe searching for Dr. Sciuridae, for advice on how to defeat whoever is corrupting Lord Tedd. It makes more sense for Dr. Sciuridae to know how to defeat Shade Tail, whom he helped create, than Damien. **Also, Grace's squirrel is fireproof, and General Shade Tail could have taken down Damien by the Lespuko claws slowing his regeneration, which also suggests that General Shade Tail is the Master of Fire. The Second Life sequence is based upon Nioi's actual life *Ellen might have been the equivalent of Elliot in that universe, explaining why there is no Elliot with Lord Tedd, and reflected by Beta Tedd and Ellen dating (Second Life Tedd like-likes Second Life Ellen). *They all split up around college. The Main Universe characters haven't left high school. The sequence of events in the comic may culminate with such an ending. Mr. Guyur was one of Noah's Parents, making him a Seyunolu *The dark figure standing over the grave at the end of Painted Black was Noah. Noah's parents were killed by Damien. Mr. Guyur was killed by Damien, in addition to the rest of the facility. *Noah's incredible abilities and magical prowess hint at a more exotic heritage than pure human and the fact that Damien crossed paths with his parents and that he even knew what a Seyunolu was during his graveyard monologue shows that he may have been involved with some sort of similar project. **This is supported by Noah not knowing things which would be considered common knowledge. *Noah has a ponytail/antennae. He may also have dormant Lespuko DNA, like General Shade Tail, which would increase his power, but not allow for advanced shapeshifting. *His flight is probably telekinetic, and his tonfas and form are probably items he got from Raven and/or some-sort of awakening induced by his parents' death. *This would make Noah and Grace siblings of a sort (even if he doesn't have Uryuom DNA, he would still be as closely related to her as Hedge or Guineas). **Only geater chimeras (those with Uryuom DNA) have antennae, so Noah MUST have Uryuom DNA. He may also be a user of human magic (difficult, but not impossible, as answered in the last Q&A). Agent Cranium is the other person with Sarah's spell that Pandora Raven refers to in this comic. *She has the ability to see things without needing to be physically present. *She stays still and in place while using this ability. *She works for the government. *She dodges questions about how she can see what she sees. Chaos is collecting magic users for her end of the world/great reveal of magic * The comic listing the 8 magic marks she has or will have given shows 3 known individuals (Justin, Rhoda, and Dex) granting them magic use, or at the very least, access to one spell. Three more of the listed marks are likely to represent Luke (the magnifying lens) and Tedd (the combination male and female symbol) and Catalina (animal paw) leaving the last two ( storm cloud and day/night) unknown. All have been given the marks without their permission or knowledge. Luke has a conversation with someone on the phone, presumably one of the two remaining is that person. * She seeks to create a world where her son can have more freedom to use magic, or act in a way that is currently hindered. * Note: The apocalypse Dex was talking about were Voltaire words, not Pandora ... but what she said to Adrian Raven sounded so similar it might've been actually another part of Voltaire trying to frame Pandora for that event. * Note: After remembering magic reset, Pandora abandoned this plan. Too early to tell or too little evidence either way There is connection between Lord Tedd being Lord Tedd and Elliot missing * Elliot has a tendency to be Tedd's "voice of reason" * Elliot is ridiculous good and rare exception * Pandora consider Elliot relationship with Tedd to be important. ** In other dimensions, the relationship might be even closer ... even our Elliot dreamed about it ... Terra and Lord Tedd are connected somehow? * They are the only two known Tedd alternates to have lost their Elliot/Ellen aternate. * The quarrel Terra and Magus were having is related to LT's thirst of power,even if with seemingly opposite thought patterns. * Magic seems to be of public knowledge in both universes. * Lord Tedd's attempts to kill other Tedds start way after Magus is sent to the Main Universe's spiritual plane. * Females turning male in search of power is common practice in Magus' universe. * On the disproving part, there are hints of the Alpha Universe having some level of technological advance that has yet to be seen in Magus' universe. Probably wrong but not explicitly proven wrong Beta Tedd is the Evil one, Not Lord Tedd *All the information we know about Lord Tedd comes from Beta Tedd. *Nioi has said that the gang is wrong about Lord Tedd. *However, that would mean that the Omega Goo was sent by Beta Tedd which renders the panel of Lord Tedd looking angrily at the screen that states the Goo's destruction nonsensical. As well, Beta Tedd revealed to Grace how to destroy the Goo which doesn't make sense if he is truly evil. The Omega Goo itself stated it was sent by Lord Tedd which would mean Beta Tedd wanted to frame Lord Tedd for the death of Main Universe Tedd for some reason. In addition, Tedd's dream would be a red herring at best and nonsensical at worst. Tedd is the prophesied Master of Fire, not Damien *Tedd's sleepy time has Lord Tedd referring to "this master of flame shall inherit the earth". **On the other hand, it appears that the shadowed figure, not Tedd as Lord Tedd, is speaking in the dream and that Tedd as Lord Tedd is reacting to this speaker. *His TF gun, connections to his government contacts and personality would certainly give him the chance to unify Seyunolu. *He has been known to exist in every dimension seen so far, which would make sense if he fulfils a prophesy. **Although not every universe necessarily has a prophecy predicting a Master of Fire nor necessarily has a fulfilment of it. *Fire has been used to symbolize transformation, which Tedd is a master of. **If fire symbolises transformation, then the legend could have been mistranslated, the master of transformation and not of fire. *Tedd has been known to glow, which could be a result of power building up within him. *Tedd has survived an explosion with only minimal damage. **If the is the reference for the explosion then it should be noted that it was played for humor Proven wrong by being incompatible with canon Noah's parents being the agent shown working with Tedd's dad He told Elliot in Indiana Elliot and the TOSF that his parents are dead by secrets being kept. Tedd's mother is in France, and taught Nanase and Susan magic To clarify, this theory deals with Tedd's mother being the female French immortal. *Tedd has said that last time he checked his mother was in Europe. *The girls said they learned Magic in France. *Tedd has been known to glow which could mean he has magic in his blood, his father has to use a wand so... *An interesting recent addition to this... Tedd's father DID mention that he knows immortals... And the elves in the comics on the 24th-27thish have one male and one female. The female one could be Tedd's mother, I guess... Although that DOES mean that Tedd is half-elf. Hmm. Can someone check if any of the alternate universe Tedds have pointy ears? I'm sure Lord Tedd's ones are slightly pointier, which may or may not confirm this idea. **It is worth noting that Tedd's mother could not be half-immortal since Adrian Raven states that half-immortals cannot have children during Death Sentence Part 5. We now know this to be false - half immortals can have children. *I would like to point out that an elf is someone who is half-immortal, so if that was Tedd's mom he would be an elf not a half-elf as those two stated that they were immortals. Though the fact that it is explained in a Q&A that Tedd's mom is Mrs. Kitsune's sister not her step sister and the fact that Mrs. Kitsune isn't an immortal we can deduce that this theory is inaccurate. *The two characters in the Feb 27th 2009 comic mentioned above are confirmed immortals not elves so the original editor either made an error in terminology or thought elves were a type of immortal and that the French Immortals were elves therefore the first fault in the theory is due to that error and would be valid if not for the second fault. Nioi is actually Tedd *Nioi's skin patterns are purple. The only other body part which has ever been purple in EGS is Tedd's hair. *Nioi's form is extremely similar to those which Tedd has created for the TF gun. *The gun is known to malfunction frequently, as shown in Sister. Tedd therefore has potential to be trapped in another form. *Nioi has access to inter-dimensional travel. Therefore, she (once he?) could have originated in a world not yet introduced. **But that would beg the question of the nature of Kaoli since there is normally only one duplicate per universe. **If Kaoli is a duplicate of Nioi and Nioi is actually a Tedd from an unknown universe then Kaoli is a second duplicate of a Tedd in addition to the largely unchanged duplicate that exists in the Second Life Universe. Assuming Kaoli is native to the Second Life Universe it begs the question of how she coexists with the other Tedd. ***Were Nioi to come from another reality, she would not truly be a duplicate of anyone. ****If Nioi is a Tedd from a different reality she is by definition a duplicate of the Main Universe Tedd. To clarify, an alternate universe version of a character is referred to as a duplicate of the main universe character. However, it does not mean that the duplicate of a character is created from the main universe character. For example the Second Life Universe Ellen is a duplicate of the main universe Elliot despite not being created from the Main Universe Elliot. The Main Universe Ellen is also a duplicate of the Main Universe Elliot but she was created from the Main Universe Elliot. **Plus if Tedd was stuck as a Nioi form, touching the diamond would not have made Kaoli. It would have made a Nioi and a Tedd. So unless Tedd was turned into Nioi by something besides magic (and NOT by the TF gun), this theory is impossible. ***It's unknown how the Dewitchery Diamond would affect a DD-born duplicate that is under a second enchantment at the time of contact. So, if Tedd zapped himself into Nioi, then touched the diamond, then Nioi used her glamour enchantment and touched the diamond AGAIN, it COULD create a Kaoli. This still makes no sense as Nioi shows some serious infatuation with Tedd, going as far as naming him "Tedd-chan", and that Nioi had no previous knowledge of the diamond when she touched it. Beta Tedd is dating Second Life Ellen *In the first Sister storyline, Grace receives a message from Beta Tedd and Ellen, who are dating. *Later, during some of Ellen's Second Life sequences, it is implied that Tedd has a crush on her. *Ellen herself outright states this during Grace's Birthday Party, though she says her counterpart was oblivious. *It is implied that, since Ellen was just living out an alternate version of herself, that the other Ellen's life continued after the dreams had stopped. *It is therefore possible that Ellen was living in the Beta Universe and later ends up with Tedd. *We should also note that Ellen said she never dated Tedd in her second life, and her second life ended when all of the characters departed and went to college. Therefore, unless the Beta Universe is a few years ahead of the Main Universe (and the Second Life Tedd and Ellen decided to skip college and just be together), this theory is impossible. Additionally, SL Ellen was clueless about SL Tedd loving her. **The Second Life Tedd and Ellen could have ended up at the same college or somehow met each other again during or after their college years. On the other hand, Beta Tedd wears glasses at home while Second Life Tedd does not, even at school, Beta Tedd's hair is the same length as Main Universe Tedd while Second Life Tedd's hair is long and Beta Tedd does not recognize Grace as being a Tulougol Seyunolu, a type of being which Second Life Tedd would be readily familiar with, instead calling her a "crazy-haired girl". *I also think that Second Life Tedd = Lord Tedd. Here's why: You can see Second Life/Pre-Lord-Tedd Alpha Tedd searching for Nioi (Which makes one of the above theories false) And his hair looks a lot like Lord Tedd's. **First of all, the Tedd searching for Nioi was already Lord Tedd as Nioi refers to him as such and since Kaoli (as opposed to Nioi) is native to the SL Universe, SL Tedd is not Lord Tedd as the former grew up in a universe with Kaoli whereas Lord Tedd grew up in a universe with Nioi. *Thus, Second Life Ellen = Alpha Ellen. ** This point is wrong as per above argument. *And everything considered, this means that Elliot, Sarah and Shade Tail (Grace) don't exist at all in Lord Tedd's universe, which is why The Goo was easily weakened by Grace's SCJ form. **Elliot (or Ellen) and Sarah could still have counterparts in the Alpha Universe; we may just have never seen them or Lord Tedd may have never met them. Grace on the other hand definitely does not exist in the Alpha Universe given the existence of General Shade Tail. The Goo was not weakened by Grace's SCJ form due to a lack of a Shade Tail in the Alpha Universe; it merely had some parts of itself blasted apart and realized it was up against a counterpart of General Shade Tail and changed strategies to compensate. It may have been able to defeat Grace had it finished its transformation but it was defeated by Ellen while it was still transforming. References Category:Meta